In the wake of not only the glorious return of both missing episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan to the Doctor Who archive but also four brave astronauts (one of them Canadian!) to the Earth, we're back to our usual cogitating about the BFI screening of the TV Movie on its 30th anniversary, Big Finish covers and a lovely trailer by the Brothers Kibble-White, the Radiophonic Workshop getting a well deserved award, AND the return in the form of Part the Third of our Classic Series Commentary on "The Mysterious Planet"!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Film is Fabulous panels from the Riverside event
• Sue Malden interview about finding the Daleks' Master Plan episodes
• Sold out BFI screening for the Doctor Who TV movie happening May 17
• The Quiz of Rassilon TV Movie special, May 17 at the BFI bar
• Doctor Who Magazine Special 73 – 30 Years of the Eighth Doctor
• BBC Studios Launches First-Ever Airline Streaming Service
• Doctor Who: The Official Doctionary due Oct 22
• Big Finish: Doctor Who – Helter Skelter out now
• Trailer for Doctor Who – Helter Skelter
• Big Finish: Dark Gallifrey: The Meddling Monks – Part One out now
• The BBC Radiophonic Workshop will receive the Music Producers Guild Pioneer Award Apr 16

Commentary:

• The Mysterious Planet Part Three

The time has come and the two previously missing but now gloriously present episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan, namely The Nightmare Begins (Episode 1) and Devil's Planet (Episode 3), are here to be viewed and reviewed! They appeared not only on the BBC iPlayer but also in full on the US (but not Canadian, feh) Classic Doctor Who Youtube channel, and we have viewed said episodes and have thoughts. But that's not all we also have an interview with Toby Hadoke, who hosted a screening at Riverside Studios and reflects with Steven on the screening, the episodes, and the overall wonder that is their return!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• The Daleks' Master Plan: The Nightmare Begins – iPlayer
• The Daleks' Master Plan: Devil's Planet – iPlayer
• The Daleks' Master Plan: The Nightmare Begins – YouTube
• The Daleks' Master Plan: Devil's Planet – YouTube
• Doctor Who Magazine 628 released
• BBC Three to run Twenty Years of Tennant marathon Apr 16
• HBO says not aware of a potential Doctor Who partnership with the BBC
• Big Finish: Doctor Who: Time War – Uncharted: Branches due May 2026
• Big Finish: Doctor Who – Rutans vs Sontarans: Betrayal at the House of Sontar out now
• Big Finish: Torchwood: Curtain released
• Paul Hayes' Flight Into Danger documentary and article
• World of Telly – Gangsters
• Laurie Webb died at 101

Interview:

• Toby Hadoke
• Riverside Studios Event

Our deepest of dives into the wilds of missing episodes continues as our feature interview this week is with John Franklin of Film is Fabulous!, who chats all about the organization's mission, the complicated saga of tracking down not just Doctor Who but other film artifacts from collectors across the UK, and of course a deep dive into the technical nitty-gritty of film restoration, as is the remit of this here podcast. Plus a greeting from Chairman of the Board Tom Baker on the 45th anniversary of the Fourth Doctor's swan song in "Logopolis", Gallifrey One's hotelmaggedon looms in May, Matt Brittin takes on the job of BBC director general, and more!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Preserving Doctor Who Episodes by Film is Fabulous
• Gallifrey One hotel accommodations open May 8
• Doctor Who: The Collection – Peter Davison, Season 3 coming to NA on July 7
• 45 Years Ago…
• Ex-Google boss Matt Brittin officially confirmed as new BBC director general
• New episode of The Whoniverse Show with Camille Coduri
• Big Finish The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question released
• Doctor Who Annual 2027 due Aug 20

Interview:

• John Franklin, Film Is Fabulous!

It's been a week since missing episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan revealed themselves to the public to great excitement and joy and indeed a Film of Fabulous! screening of said episodes on April 4 sold out near-instantly upon its announcement. We also have news of an ex-Google chief possibly taking the helm at the BBC, The War Between still being MIA from Disney+, the usual Big Finish over-examining, and our feature interview with The Long Game and Pull to Open author Paul Hayes, here to discuss the production of 1956 CBC production Flight Into Danger, starring one James Doohan and produced by future (at the time) Doctor Who producer Sydney Newman! CanCon, baby!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Film is Fabulous statement about the Doctor Who recovery
• Film is Fabulous short restoration clips
• Film is Fabulous Daleks' Master Plan screening Apr 4, sold out
• Gallifrey One 2027 tickets on sale
• BBC Close To Hiring Ex-Google Chief Matt Brittin As Next Director General
• The War Between the Land and the Sea not on the Disney+ April schedule
• Paul Cornell's Saucer Country comic optioned for TV series
• Big Finish: David Tennant returns as the Tenth Doctor, new 12-part series coming 2027
• Big Finish: The First Doctor Adventures: Beware the City of Illusions out now
• Big Finish: UNIT – Brave New World: Knightfall out now
• Blake's 7 Series C available to preorder, release date TBD

Interview:

• Paul Hayes
• Flight Into Danger
• Doctor Who: Star Flight by Paul Hayes

It is indeed an amazing week in the world of Doctor Who as two (!) episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan, specifically episodes 1 and 3, have been resurrected into the daylight through the good work of Film Is Fabulous! Revel with the Three Who Rule as they mull over how this came to be, what it means future Who media releases, the relative calm of this announcement as compared to 2013's ominrumour, and more! Plus we have an interview with Tim Burrows of the Missing Episodes Podcast to give you more of those granular details of technical cut film reels that all Archival Sickos crave! Also the usual Big Finish, EagleMoss figurine, and other news tidbits. Listen, or Bret Vyon will arrest you!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• The Daleks' Master Plan Episodes 1 and 3 returned via Film is Fabulous; on iPlayer Apr 4
• RE-DISCOVERED EPISODES: The Dalek's Master Plan
• The Daleks' Master Plan Missing Episode Recovery BBC Breakfast
• Film is Fabulous!
• Film is Fabulous Peter Purves Interview
• Film is Fabulous Sue Malden interview
• Simon Guerrier: Doctor Who's lost episodes are worth getting excited about
• Eaglemoss Vogan, Jacondan, and Kronos figures available for pre-order
• The Whoniverse Show: Murray Gold Takes on the Ultimate Doctor Who Music Quiz
• Big Finish Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Violet Hour available now
• Big Finish Doctor Who – The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Aegis due May 2026
• Big Finish Time War – Daleks vs Cybermen due Mar 2027

Interview:

• Tim Burrows
• Gav Rymill

BREAKING NEWS! Two previously missing episodes of Doctor Who have been returned to the BBC Archives! Episodes One and Three of The Daleks' Master Plan were found in a film collection obtained by Film is Fabulous, and will be streamed on BBC iPlayer at Easter.

Full coverage of the recovery will be on the next episode of Radio Free Skaro!

Happy Magna Carta Day, everyone! One of them, anyway. Now that that's out of the way, there's heated debate on The Billie Piper Matter in both The Sun and The Telegraph, and the Three Who Rule add their shopworn takes to this interminable discussion that will be an absolute delight until Xmas 2026. Plus we have a set report from 2004, the iPlayer possibly re-re-re-inventing cable and hosting rival broadcasters, the Ianto Shrine nearing its end and the feelings around that, and most importantly, Part the Second of our "The Mysterious Planet" Classic Series Commentary!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Happy March 4
• The Sun: 2026 Doctor Who Christmas Special will not feature Billie Piper as the Doctor
• Why No One Wants to be the Next Doctor Who
• Season 3 scripts were being prepared before cancellation
• The Whoniverse Show: Russell T Davies' Ultimate Guide to Being the Perfect Companion
• BBC Says iPlayer Could Host Rival Broadcasters As Corporation Sets Out Charter Renewal Funding Vision
• Set report from 2004 first Doctor Who location shoot
• Doctor Who Magazine 627 released
• Ianto shrine in Cardiff to be taken down at the end of April
• Gareth David-Lloyd talks about the Ianto shrine removal
• Change.org petition to save the Ianto shrine
• Big Finish The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Ministry of Death released
• Big Finish The Death and Life of River Song: War Widow due Sep 2026
• Retro TV drops Doctor Who

Commentary:

• The Mysterious Planet Part Two

As world events trend ever downwards, you can always count on the Three Who Rule to not only give you the latest exciting news from the world of Doctor Who, such as Murray Gold reporting there are numerous versions of the upcoming Xmas Special written, a BBC executive saying quite sensibly that Doctor Who will come back when it's good and ready and more, but also our usual basting in the warm glow of the past as we go back to the halcyon days of 1986 with a Classic Series Commentary on the greatest model shot in the history of television (and some story stuff I guess) with Part One of "The Mysterious Planet"!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Murray Gold says multiple versions of 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special have been written
• Murray Gold on The Whoniverse Show
• BBC Director of Drama Lindsay Salt on Doctor Who
• Doctor Who – Season 2 coming to Blu-ray on June 2
• You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who due May 25 from Ten Acre Books
• Big Finish Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: The Legacy of Time released
• Big Finish: The Worlds of Doctor Who – UNIT Eras: Hostile Universe due April 2026
• Numerous guests announced for Long Island Who
• Jonathan Helm (Who FX/Making Blake's 7) Substack on Shada
• Red Dwarf co-creator Rob Grant died

Commentary:

• The Mysterious Planet Part One